Prior to the year 2000, the University of Hawaiʻi's men's teams were all referred to as the Rainbow Warriors, complemented by an athletics logo featuring a rainbow. A controversial change in 2000 allowed each team to pick its own team name; the football, men's volleyball, golf, and tennis teams became the Warriors, while the men's basketball and swimming & diving teams remained Rainbow Warriors and the baseball team remained Rainbows.[1] Additionally, the school changed its athletics logo to a stylized "H", omitting the rainbow of the old logo altogether.

Starting on July 1, 2013, the nicknames of the university's various male sports teams were once again standardized, and all male teams at the university are now referred to as the "Rainbow Warriors."[2][3]

In July 2012, almost all of the school's teams moved from the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) to the Big West Conference. However, since the Big West does not sponsor football, the Warriors football program moved to the Mountain West Conference. Since the Big West also does not sponsor swimming and diving for either sex, the Rainbow Warriors swimming and diving program moved to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, joining the Warriors volleyball program there (neither the WAC nor Big West sponsors men's volleyball).

The Hawaiʻi Rainbow Warriors football team represents UH in NCAA Division I FBScollege football. The team, which is currently coached by Norm Chow, joined the Mountain West Conference in July 2012. They are the third non-BCS team to play in a BCS bowl game, having faced Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 2008, losing to Georgia 41-10. Hawaii was ranked 10th and UGA ranked 5th in the nation. Hawaii was the only undefeated team of the 2007 season, before losing in the Sugar Bowl in January 2008.